Here in the world, it feels like Spring. Kids are illegally playing with other kids. Young adults are making plans and starting to act. I see groups that cannot conceivably be families standing close without masks, talking to each other calmly. I think the Fear is subsiding. If this was a Valley of Fear, Welcome To All, here on the other side…

There are some ideas about genetics being involved; I’m sure that will be studied.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/study-of-twins-reveals-genetic-impact-on-coronavus-symptoms/

The research group asked twins participating in another study to upload their symptoms to an app that tracks the illness.

The team took into account whether the twins lived in the same household as well as whether they had contact with one other, the report said.

Researchers determined genes were 50 percent responsible for whether participants suffered symptoms such as fever, diarrhea and delirium — as well as the loss of taste and smell.

“This disease is very weird, the way it has a very different presentation in the population in different people — what we are showing is that isn’t random,” Spector told the Guardian. “It is not mainly due to where you live or who you have seen; a lot of it is something innate about you.

https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/04/04/biology-why-women-are-faring-better-than-men-against-the-coronavirus/

[G]enetic researcher Sharon Moalem, MD … spent years working with patients at both ends of the human life span — from babies in the neonatal intensive care unit to seniors grappling with Alzheimer’s. In both groups he noticed that his female patients were more resilient than males, better at fighting off infections and recovering from injuries.
Both of a female’s X chromosomes are present in all her cells. But within each cell, only one of the X’s calls the shots. Half of a woman’s cells are dominated by the X chromosome that came from her mother, half by the X contributed by her father.
“That genetic diversity is really valuable,” Moalem explained. “One of the immune system’s most important weapons is the ability to recognize a virus. Well, genes on the X chromosome are involved in viral recognition. Right away, women have two different populations of immune cells that are best at spotting invaders.

The cowboys of the Old West would just say, “That bullet didn’t have your name on it.”

And that, only gives special force to what Sharon had previously said regarding the unpredictable nature of the effects of the virus. For, in looking at her spouse sitting there in the chair, he shows no obvious sign of having any preexisting conditions, be they diagnosed or not. He’s about as fit and youthful looking as any normal man of his approximate age might be.

Kind of gives you pause to think.

Wow. What a story. Especially about the wife and the ventilator.

After his wife had been on the ventilator for 16 days, the hospital asked if the family would accept the idea of taking her off the ventilator. The husband, who was a retired EMT, asked to see her once more. The hospital agreed. All kinds of precautions were taken as he went to his wife’s bedside. There he asked her some questions and saw very slight movements that indicated she heard him. He told the hospital that he believed his wife was still in there and to give it a few more days. They did. A day later she began to move on her own and could respond with finger movements to questions. After 22 days on a ventilator she was well enough to be taken off. In the meantime her father had recovered enough to be released from the hospital. Yesterday, after 42 days in the hospital, she came home.

What a story! A 60 something year old couple and a 90 something year old couple have all survived the COVID-19 illness after going through the valley of death and back again. Stories like Doug and Sharon’s and these four people all give us hope and courage in the fight against this pandemic.

It also makes us ponder why the virus is so bad for some and not for others.